Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wasted Tim

Starting pitcher:
JC Parsons

This is not the post I was supposed to write. I was all set with yet another attempt to portray the continuing mastery of Tim Lincecum as he slices and dices his way through Major League Baseball. This time the victim was an over-matched Phillies squad; I was going to call it "Philli-buster Tim" or something equally corny. But fate ( or Bruce Bochy's huge head ) stepped in the way.

Tim Lincecum delivered his best effort so far this year against his best opponent. Easily deserving a better fate, Tim met or exceeded all expectations, which are huge and growing with every pitch: 8.1 innings (106 pitches), 3 hits (a double and solo homer by Howard!), 2 earned runs ( the second scored with some help from Wilson ), 11 strikeouts. Beautiful numbers indeed, but the one I failed to mention...one walk... turned out to be the key to the entire game. At least that seems to be what Bochy thought.

Should Tim have been lifted ?? Imagine if it was reversed and we were behind Halliday 4-1 in the ninth. What is the ONE THING you would hope and pray for???? To get Halladay out of the game. Anybody else immediately gives you a glimmer of hope. Hope is a great thing, ask the President.

OK, kids. Have at it...this game had gobs of baseball goo all over it. If you don't vent after a game like this YOU CAN DIE. Believe me, I'm a doctor.

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I know Bochy is an easy target, and Velez is nearly as easy, but I'm going with Velez. I'd rather he strike out then do what he did. And that error? I saw it coming and when I looked at the instant replay, he looked unsurprised himself. He's really bringing us down and Bochy is allowing him to do so.

Now about Tim, that was poo. I knew that something was gonna happen if he got pulled but I didn't think that just one walk (with already one out) would be the cause. sigh.

Now NATE SCHIERHOLTZ! He's been swell. The best part about him (like Andres) is that his speed and his fielding make up for him if he is unable to hit (but 5 for 5 with a walk, yow!) Andres and Nate would look great up in the lineup. And nearly everyone was hitting pretty good (don't let the hitting w/ RISP fool you). They've really been working harder, especially Andres, I love that guy. They got 6 runs with 17 hits, a few walks, 2 stolen bases, and a dream. I'd take that any day. Too bad things ended up the way they did.

Bochy, who (unlike any poster here) could talk to Righetti, Molina, and Lincecum, probably knows enough so that if he did not make the right decision, he made a rational one. I can't say that, though, about his decision to have Velez on the team, let alone to let Velez attempt to field and attempt to hit.

It was a tough call. Lincecum is your best player, and you hate to lose a game because you took out your best player. After the walk, the worst that could have happened was a 2-run HR, and it still would have been 4-3 Giants. Wilson should have gone after Howard--he was the tying run. Instead, he walked him by refusing to really go after him. Howard is a great slugger, but he is also a K artist. You have to go for the out there, and not walk the tying run.

Ah well, we have to be impressed about 2 of 3 from both St. Louis and Philly. We need to do the same to Colorado.

Seems like damn near a consensus! A lot could have happened that would have made the game turn out OK. That hit off of Wilson could have been a single and we might have won 4-3. Or Velez could have not run into the wall and we could have gone into the 12th. Or Timmy could have finished the game stranding a runner at first. Or.... Using Wilson was an error in retrospect, and validates my wife's fears about Wilson's reliability. A thrilling, emotional roller coaster of a game. At least the Giants did not give up and matched Philly's tenth inning score (or Affeldt could have not allowed THAT run...) and tried to come back in the 11th. Nate sure did his part. It's great to have your 8th batter putting up a .375 average, no?

Wilson fucked up, not Bochy. The Phillies are damn good and they refused to be swept.At the end of the year when the retrospectives are written and we're celebrating yet another Cy Young award, this will be the early season game we'll remember.Stay hot, Nate Schierholtz.

First of all, why did Bochy allow Lincecum to hit in the bottom of the eighth if he was going to pull him on a walk with one out. Why not allow a professional hitter to bat and try to extend the lead if you are not sold on Lincecum pitching the 9th. Secondly, what is it with the umps and the giants. Wilson had Werth K'd on a pitch that was called a strike most of the game. But Werth got another chance and blooped a chalker. Affeldt let a run in with a wild pitch. Velez let a run in a a dropped fly, and perhaps another run in on a play that at least some left fielders would have made. It was however, a difficult play. Velez's deer in the headlights look did not instill confidence. Not even in Velez. Didn't a left fielder, perhaps Velez, or Freddie Lewis make a bad play on a game in 2008 that Lincecum would have won had the catch been made? Either pinch hit in the bottom of the 8th, and start the inning fresh with your choice of reliever(s). Or allow Timmy and his unhittable change-up one more batter and hope for a DP or a K. Just go out to the mound, give him a breather and let him garner up his strength. If he had a cut or a blister I stand corrected but I have seen no evidence of such a factor.

John Perricone at Only Baseball Matters has a provocative post about the Bochy-pulling-Tim thing (if you feel like beating the dead horse a little more).

Freddy Sanchez is supposed to be back soon--who's spot will he take? I'm having a hard time getting excited about a banged-up, no power, no walk kind of guy, but he is at least a major-league regular and should contribute competent play.

I'll beat that horse some more! I agree with Anon, pulling Tim was a poor choice and it was the game changer. The second he left the entire atmosphere of the game was altered. He was not pulled due to wildness - one walk is no evidence - or fatigue - 106 pitches and many days off ahead - he was pulled to make sure he didn't get pinned with a loss. Basically Bochy was planning for a blown save, a classic move used quite regularly. BUT a stupid move with a pitcher like Tim. As I mentioned in the post, how would you feel if they took out Halladay after one walk in the ninth with a three run lead? You would be THRILLED, it would be our ONLY chance for a comeback. BTW they would NEVER take Halladay out in that situation...so why do we remove Tim??